What are the Small Business Advertising Questions you should be asking?

Do you know the preliminary questions to ask when planning your small business advertising?

In today’s economy, with rampant competition everywhere you look, it is extremely important to look to your small business advertising with a critical eye. It does not matter whether you are just at the beginning phases of planning your advertising or you are simply reviewing your small business advertising plans for the new year. You want to be sure you begin your planning process by doing some fundamental groundwork. Be careful of the temptation to just “throw money” at the ad salesman who happens to stop by your office. Instead, approach your small business advertising the same way you approach other areas of your business. You probably look very closely at your other business expenses. Similarly, you want to be prudent when planning your advertising budget and marketing campaigns.

So what are the fundamental questions you must ask before you spend a single dollar on small business advertising?

1. Who is your market? Understanding your market is the most fundamental question you need to ask yourself before you go a single step further. For example, suppose you just opened a new hair salon down on the corner of 5th Avenue and State Street. Do you intend to serve all age groups, including teenagers? Alternatively do you intend to focus on only women local to area? Perhaps you have a larger goal in mind; maybe you intend to focus on any women in the city. For this example, let’s say you start with women that either live or work in the city.

2.Who is your ideal customer? The ideal customer question is similar to question number one, but is more focused on the more detailed specifics of who you really want to serve. For the example we are using here, you might decide that your ideal customer is a middle-aged professional woman who works within 5 miles of your new location.

3. What is the best way to reach your ideal customer? The answers to this question will give you a great starting point when planning your small business advertising. Depending on the type of business you have, your prospective customers will require different strategies to bring them in the door. Let’s continue with our new hair salon example from above. Here are a few possibilities that have proven to work with similar new business openings:

* Install inviting signage on the outside of your new salon, subject to local zoning regulations of course. The point is that, as a brand new business, you have to make your new salon inviting and welcoming as well as interesting enough for new customers to give you a try. In fact, in the weeks leading up to your grand opening, you could even put a big countdown clock in the display window with eye catching advertising phrases and coupons for opening day.

* In the weeks, leading up to your grand opening, place Grand Opening Flyers at as many professional hangouts as you can. Another possibility is to issue a press release announcing your new business. Also, you can even setup a Facebook event for your grand opening, offering specials and coupons to bring in the first-timers.

* Finally,in the weeks leading up to your grand opening as well as after your opening, you can obtain a list of professional women meeting your ideal customer target and mail them postcards, coupons, and special offers.

As you can see, it all begins with the fundamentals. Once you have answered the three preliminary questions about your small business advertising, you open open a whole world of possibilities to grow your business.